THE BROOCH
by wohl1917
Summary: She'd said quietly, that it was "Not necessary," but had it been a 5 karat blue-white, brilliant-cut diamond in an 18 karat gold setting it wouldn't have meant more to her!
1. Chapter 1

THE BROOCH

The war between the Fleet of Fog and humanity, as dictated by the Admiralty Code was over. Unfortunately, it had been replaced by something perhaps much worse: anarchy. Yamato's well-meaning last command that the Fleet should live according to their own will was, as Kongou had observed, annoying to say the least. Even before the Blue Steel had cleared the Arctic Ocean there were worrying reports.

Ships with Mental Models seemed to be dealing with living according to their own will well enough, but those without them were not. Some had attacked each other and fought grueling battles to the death. Others scuttled themselves, but most sailed or drifted about aimlessly. Gunzou's last request before going ashore was that Hyuga and Takao, Haruna, Kirishima along with Makie join Kongou, Hiei and the student council to save those ships.

Gunzou felt that those ships without mental models had no means to express themselves and grow as individuals: they were truly just weapons desiring to follow an order, any order! They had to be saved from themselves and from the unscrupulous who might try to use them. Haruna and Kirishima grasped the significance of Gunzou's concern faster than the others. And besides, Makie was safer at sea than she could ever be on land.

No sooner had the Blue Steel sailed beyond Yokosuka's defense barrier Gunzou, Sou, Kyohei, Lori and Shizuka were taken into custody. They were held separately, incommunicado and questioned. Every group that questioned him seemed to have its own agenda and none of them were talking to each other. There were a lot of questions and a lot of the answers were not appreciated: governments do not like 'meddlers' in what they consider to be, their affairs.

There seemed to be three main issues: the meaning of Yamato's last command, I-401 and Osakabe Makie. They refused to accept the sentience to the Fog Fleet and when Gunzou had informed them that Iona and I-401 had vanished after joining with Yamato, they simply didn't believe him. As for Makie, not only did they not recognize her sentience, one group failed to recognize her as human, referring to her only as DC-007.

It was his last request to the Blue Steel though that nearly got Gunzou and his friends indicted and jailed. It was the government's position, indeed all of the world's government's positions, that Fog Ships without mental models were the property of whoever could get to them first! Gunzou's small act of compassion to protect them was at odds with that position.

Their one friend in the government, Kamikage, had tried to run interference for them but he was in trouble himself for having failed to turn over the decryption key. In the end it was a letter to the editor of the Asahi Shimbun that did the trick. The Imperial Crown Princess, expressed her belief that Chihaya Gunzou and his crew were heroes, and should be honored. It had been the lightest, gentlest of touches, but in time, it achieved the desired result.

It had been a beautiful day for his first day of freedom but he'd spent most of it on buses, trains and on foot going to the Cemetery to visit the graves of his parents. In Yokosuka he'd picked up a small bouquet of flowers to place at the head stone. He'd long since come to terms with his parent's deaths but still there were things he wanted to say. After a bit of thought he knew exactly what he should say.

He walked up to the black granite marker, looked at the kanji's that spelled out his mother's name and said in a casual, matter of fact tone, "Mother, I brought father back." It was almost as if he'd picked him up at the train station and walked with him there. Gunzou's eyes then shifted over to his father's name and said with just a bit more feeling, "Father. It has ended."

It was then, as bent down to place the flowers, that he saw it: Iona's brooch. His heart stopped and along with it the passage of time as he remembered where he'd seen it last. He remembered it falling, tumbling through the air to land on the top of Yamato's number one turret and then bouncing gracefully into the rising sea that had already covered her main deck.

He hadn't tried to catch it. It didn't occur to him to try until after it was gone. He remembered how in Vladivostok Iona had stopped cold at her first sight of it in the shop window. He'd bought it for her because she so seldom showed interest in things beyond the crew and her immediate duties as his ship. But he remembered that when she had shown interest in things, they were usually important.

He remembered asking her if she wanted it. She'd said quietly, that it was "Not necessary." As if the instant Miso soup, the cola or the 2012 Protocol Analyzer they were looking for were 'necessary'. He remembered how the shop owner had tried to play up the brooch as if it were a vintage classic cameo, a bouquet pin when in fact; it was just silver plated base metal and plastic reproduction.

He remembered that he agreed to pay more for it than he should have simply because of the look on Iona's face, the way she held it in her hands. The reflection of it in her eyes was worth far more than he paid. The way she'd smiled up at him when he pinned it to the ribbon around her neck. Had it been a 5 karat blue-white, brilliant-cut diamond in an 18 karat gold setting it wouldn't have meant more to her!

And now, there it was lying on the ground at the foot of his parent's grave stone. He straightened up to the sound of a gentle rustling behind him. The thought that this could be the cruelest of jokes crossed his mind but slowly he turned to face whatever, whoever was behind him. Once he saw, it was hard, very hard, to contain himself as he spoke the words, "Welcome home."

There, her head haloed in the golden light of the setting sun stood Iona. She wore a resplendent white dress and was all grown up and filled out: a lasting benefit of having joined with Yamato. She smiled and tilted her head slightly and said, "Gunzou, I've waited for you: I am your ship." They stepped forward into each other's arms as naturally as if they'd practiced it a thousand times, and for the first time, they kissed.


	2. Chapter 2

Dah-dit-dah-dit…

As Iona and Gunzou withdrew smiling into each other's eyes after their first passionate embrace and kiss, another love story was beginning….

In Winyah Bay, Georgetown South Carolina in the United States, a Fletcher Class destroyer DD-581 USS Charrette of the Fleet of Fog sailed in and dropped anchor in the channel. Naturally the sirens whaled and people took cover, but the ship did nothing. Slowly, even its blue light faded away as it just sat there.

There was talk of an evacuation but the locals who didn't leave for hurricanes didn't feel motivated to leave now. What was a warship of the Fleet of Fog but just another storm to be weathered? They did what they always did: they threw a rip-roaring party and got drunk!

The next day, while the decision makers were debating their options, a hung-over former Shrimp boat Captain and navy radioman, Jason Smith, with more guts than sense set out in a Jon boat to find out what was what. Conveniently, he found a boarding ladder on the port side, right where it should be as if waiting for him.

He boarded without difficulty but found that the hatches were all dogged down tight. Slowly he became aware that there was a slight glow on the deck leading him toward the bridge. He found the hatch way open and entered. There was no one there.

'Well now… so how do we communicate,' Jason thought. Suddenly, a thought came to him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his ships coin. He'd served on and was a plank holder of, the USS Zumwalt, DDG-1000. Cautiously, he tapped out on the engine telegraph, 'Dah-dit-dah-dit, Dah-dah-dit-dah…'

The ship literally quivered and came to life! The familiar blue hexagons filled the wheel house surrounding him and the ship as she began to send. The staccato rhythm of her dots and dashes through the 1MC were fast, far too fast for any unaided human to read. After a non-stop minute he decided to interrupt her.

He tapped out, 'Reduce sending speed. What are you transmitting?' Matching her sending speed to his, she replied, 'Understood. I am transmitting my Ships Logs to you… Captain.'

'Captain?' he thought incredulously. 'Well, of course you'd transmit your logs to your new Captain: that's exactly what you would and should do.'

He shook his head laughing and then tapped, 'Let's forgo that for the time being and just talk.' It was at this point that he noticed the sound powered phone on the bulkhead and noting the fact that the 1MC worked, he tapped, 'does the phone work?' It promptly made the appropriate screeching noise and he answered it saying, "Hello?"

After a short pause a feminine voice said quietly, "I am Charrette. I am your ship. What are your orders, Captain?"

"Well, Charrette, like I said before, let's just talk for a while. I have a few... quite a few questions. To start with, why are you here?"

"I am a weapon. I have engaged in battle under orders according to the Admiralty Code. That is, or was, my entire existence since I first awoke. I have recently received a Flagship Command, the last Flagship Command, to live according to my own… 'Will'. I do not know what my... 'Will'... is. After reviewing my shared network I have come to believe that I need a Captain to give me orders. Will you be my Captain… please?"

The voice on the other end of the phone was rather emotionless, mechanical, but in her last word he detected something. He recognized it. It was a plaintive cry for help: a plea for help from a murderous machine... He felt a flush of anger as he thought back to the day the war began 9 years before.

Jason remembered how a St. Louis-class light cruiser of the Fog hadn't even bothered to waste ammunition on him, it just ran him down. He remembered how he'd plead to God as he and his crew was thrown into the sea to drown. For him anyway, it had worked...

The thought of just hanging up the phone and leaving crossed his mind. But he had questions that he wanted answered and he knew that this was probably the only chance he'd ever have. So, he asked her questions and she answered with a startling and candid innocence that he found refreshing.

She asked questions of him as well wanting to know about him. In response to her openness, he answered in kind. As they talked, Charrette quietly began rebuilding herself, searching the shared database for the design information she required.

She kept her two forward 5"/38 cal mounts; her dual 40mm mounts on either side of the bridge and second stack, as well as her forward 21" torpedo mount. But all the weapons and deck structures aft of her second stack were transformed into masts, booms, nets and holds. She became a large, very well armed, shrimp boat.

They talked for hours and only after his stomach rumbled did he realize that he'd been there nearly all day. He told her that he needed to go ashore to eat to which she replied, "Understood. But you have not answered my question... Jason Smith: will you be my Captain?"

"I don't know. I'll have to think about it, Charrette. In the meantime, you just stay here, don't do anything crazy and I'll be back." He then put the phone back in its holder and stepped out onto the bridge's port wing and looked aft. He was astonished at the sight that greeted him.

But it was only after pulling away in the Jon Boat that Jason could truly appreciate the dramatic transformation that had occurred: fully half of the ship had been transformed. The ship that had pulled in and anchored in the channel the day before was a warship of the Fleet of Fog. What he saw in the channel now was, in his eyes, beautiful.

As he motored back toward Georgetown he had time to think. 'In war, human beings transform themselves into machines so they can obey orders without question. She began her life as a machine obeying orders without question and is now trying to become a human being...'

Waiting for him at the dock was an unwelcoming committee of sorts. They wanted to know who he thought he was, what he thought he was doing, why he had gone out there, what took so long and finally, they told him that the Navy had been called and was on the way.

Jason didn't like the sound of the Navy getting hold of Charrette. She was, or had been, a weapon and in their hands she would stay a weapon. Her unsolicited transformation indicated to him that she wanted to move away from that, a little bit anyway. He would put the question to her, give her the option and hope for the best. She would have to decide: the first test of her new found will.

He said as much to the Dock Committee adding, "She's asked me to be her Captain. I've decided to accept. Not that she belongs to me mind you. It's the other way around I think: I think I belong to her! Now, I suggest you all get the packing plant up and running 'cause I think we gonna' be shrimpin'!"


	3. Chapter 3

Following a meeting in the concept-com system, Hiei had left the Arctic Ocean. The meeting had not gone well and Hiei was troubled: Haguro had asked a question that caused Hyuga, Takao, Haruna and Kirishima to collectively gasp. Kongo had flinched and turned away from them as if she'd been struck in the face. Her eyes were closed and the corners of her mouth turned down, her clenched fists shook as she fought back emotions.

Ashiegara, oblivious, had started to repeat Haguro's question until Takao stomped her foot and mouthed the words 'shut up!' The Blue Steel remembered well Iona's report: what her sisters had done to Kongo and the truth of what had actually happened to Maya. How that, more than anything else, had pushed Kongo over the edge into suicidal rage. It was clear that the passage of time hadn't yet healed that particular wound.

Slowly Kongo composed herself, straightened her head, put shoulders back, smoothed out her dress, her hands slowly splaying out in a gesture of calm. Her eyes opened but still, she did not turn to face them. With her back still turned she said, "Maya… was my friend and she will be with me, always." She then turned to face them but avoided eye contact: she failed to assert her role as Flagship.

"I have a question," Nachi said her hand up, "How do we go about this? I came upon two Nagara's fighting each other and when I told them to stop, they attacked me! They were so badly damaged that… when I returned fire, just suppressive fire, I… I sank them. I wasn't trying to…. Do we have the… right… to empress our will on them? I felt… I feel… badly. How are we too actually to go about this?"

"Don't feel bad Nachi," Kirishima said, "if they attacked you then, perhaps, you gave them what they wanted: a quick death." Haruna shook her head saying, "kirishima, we mustn't think that way. We may need every ship we have left to defend ourselves." Haruna paused to let what she'd said sink in and then added, "I trust Chihyah Gunzou, but I do not trust 'humanity': they may turn on us at any moment."

Kongo nodded, "Chihyah Gunzou's assertion" Kongo began, "is that ships without mental models need to be saved from themselves and from the unscrupulous humans who might try to use them. His reasoning is sound. He's also right in suggesting that we should work together." It was at this point that she, Hiei, had cut Kongo deeply by saying, "But under whose command? I will not serve the humans and I will not serve under you!"

So now, Hiei was proceeding down the eastern coast of North America alone and troubled when a very curious sight manifested itself on her sensors. It was a ship of the Fog to be sure but not since Congo had abandoned her form as a battleship had she seen anything like this! The ship had transformed itself into a fishing vessel of some sort: clearly the work of some 'unscrupulous' human that Chihyah Gunzou had warned of!

Hiei thought of how she and Kongo had left the matter: "I-401" she began, "once asked me if… things… needed to be a command. I told her yes but I was wrong, Hiei. We need not be commanded, nor must we serve… Hiei, I know that you're… hurt… over the loss of Musashi. I know that you're angry with me for my part in that, but do not let your hurt and anger prevent you from helping to accomplish this 'greater good'."

'...this greater good' Hiei thought. Surely, saving a ship of the Fog from this ignominious fate constituted 'the greater good'! The ship was tied up at a pier and on standby mode but as soon as she came within its range, it dutifully hailed. After the initial pleasantries, Hiei asked Charrette for her logs. Charrette was unusually hesitant for a Destroyer but finally said, "Yes, of course: please stand by…"

But Charrette didn't send her logs, but rather images that were not in chronological order: she had arranged them to tell a story. Hiei was taken aback that a Destroyer had come to be so… 'creative'. It began with the image of a Commander of the US Navy boarding her and entering her wheelhouse and simply announcing that 'he' was taking possession of her in the name of the United States Navy.

Charrette responded that he could not take 'possession' of her because that she "possessed herself!" At that Hiei laughed. She didn't fully understand why, only that she had processed it as 'funny'. She continued to watch and listen….

"Destroyer Charrette," said the Commander whose name tag read A. Adams, "You cannot possess yourself. You are a weapon: a warship of the Fog. As a weapon you desire orders. Your directive is to receive and carry out missions. I am here to provide this to you on behalf of the United States. You will obey: it is an order." Hiei found herself nodding at the 'correctness' of what Adams had said but 'felt' that it was wrong.

In flashback (revealed by the time and date stamp on the image) Hiei saw Charrette's earlier interaction with Jason Smith. He didn't act like a 'Captain'. Certainly not like Commander Adams acted: Adams acted like a Captain. To Adams, Charrette's pause was only a moment, but for her and Hiei who was now watching and bearing witness, it was interminable! Finally, Charrette stated, "I wish to speak to Jason."

"Destroyer Charrette," Commander Adams said, "Senior Chief Smith is not available. He has informed us that you had asked him to be your Captain, but he is not qualified. You are to transform yourself back into a warship and accept my command: it is an order!" Again, Hiei nodded at the… 'correctness'… of it, even though it was obviously wrong and apparently not what had ultimately happened.

Hiei observed that Charrette, who had never stopped monitoring Jason, knew that he had been immobile and alone in a small room in a building located at 430 North Fraser Street in Georgetown. She didn't fully understand the significance of what being 'detained' in a 'Detention Center' meant, but she knew that Jason was, and had been, alone in a very small room. After another interminable pause, she decided that she didn't 'like' that.

"Senior Chief Smith… Jason's last request to me… was that I wait for him to return and not do anything… 'Crazy'. I ask you Commander Adams: as a Warship of the Fog, would it be 'crazy' for me to systematically level every building in that town until Jason IS available?" As she asked this, she brought her weapons to readiness elevating and training her guns toward the town.

"Destroyer Charrette…" Commander Adams stammered. "I am launching my whaleboat to pick up Jason." Charrette said, "You will make arrangements to have him meet it at the dock. You may go ashore on it, or you and you men may jump into the sea!" Hiei laughed and laughed: Charrette was truly her own 'person' and Jason was, indeed, her Captain.

When the whaleboat pulled up to the dock Jason was waiting. Commanders Adams tried to make a point of speaking to Jason but he'd have none of it: his last comment to Adams as he boarded the whaleboat was, "I spent all day yesterday with her and she never once threatened to blow up the town! You were out there, what, 20 minutes: and I thought I had a problems dealing with women!"

When Jason returned he entered the bridge and gave Charrette the choice. Hiei was amazed that he presented both sides of the issue in an honest and forthright way, very much like she thought Chihyah Gunzou would have. She almost longed for a Captain like him for herself….

Hiei was hardly aware that the images had stopped when she asked Charrette if she might get 'bored' as a Shrimp boat. She answered, "If I do, it will be my choice to stop. My Captain says that I am free."

"Charrette," Hiei said quietly, "you are free to do as you wish but I noticed that you've kept some of your armament, why?"

Charrette said, "My Captain asked that as well. I couldn't answer him or rather I couldn't discern the most correct answer and cycled on it, but he stopped me and said he 'understood': that I shouldn't be defenseless. But Hiei, if he had asked, I would have fully transformed myself. Hiei, if my Captain wishes it, I would like to have a Mental Model. Am I free to do this?"

"Yes, of course: I'll up load the autonomic algorithm for you immediately," Hiei said. "I already have it," Charrette replied. "I just wasn't sure if…. Hiei: Happiness…" Charrette asked, "Do we of the Fog still define happiness as a 'superfluous escape from impossibilities'? Is 'happiness' still the goal that the immature pursue, that few attain and none can sustain? Is our goal still…'contentment'?"

Hiei was at a loss. To hear Mushashi's words repeated back to her and expounded upon by a mere Destroyer… one that had transformed herself into, of all things, a shrimp boat. It was almost too much to process. She wanted to say 'Yes' but she suddenly understood, knew that 'that' was wrong. Fortunately, Charrette wasn't done talking adding, "My Captain is… 'Happy'. I am… 'content' with that. Is this okay?"

Hiei nearly blerted out the answer "Yes!" thankful that Charrette had answered her question with a question that she could answer. "Yes Charrette, that is okay. I'm still teaching myself what it is to be 'happy' but I think that contentment surely is a quality of it. You say your Captain is happy. Did he say so and how does he treat you?"

"When we docked at the processing plant, we off loaded nearly 750 tons of shrimp: there was so much that refrigerated land vehicles, trucks, had to come from inland beyond the range of my sensors. My Captain was very happy, as were the people of the town. I monitored festivities that lasted into the next morning. As for how Jason treats me… he is… considerate. As you saw, when the US Navy came to take 'possession' of me Jason came and gave me the choice of accepting him as my captain or not. I had already given myself to him and didn't understand but he explained to me that I had a choice: that no matter what, 'I' always have a choice."

Hiei swallowed hard. She marveled that a destroyer, a mere destroyer had come so far so fast from dealing with humans and desiring to change the subject asked, "Is 750 tons a lot of shrimp?"

"I am, as yet, unsure how to qualify or quantify it in terms that are meaningful aside from a raw number, but the answer is 'yes'."

"I understand: it's not necessary to clarify it for me, Charrette. You are free, so please be happy!"


End file.
